Ranchi, Feb 25 India need 192 runs to seal the series after Ravichandran Ashwin’s 35th five-wicket haul in Tests skittled out England for 145 in 53.5 overs in their second innings on the third day of the fourth Test here on Sunday.
Though India managed to keep the target below 200, it won’t be an easy task considering the pitch is tricky to bat on and England have tall spinners to extract more turn and bounce. Supporting Ashwin in his 5-51 was Kuldeep Yadav, who took 4-22, while Ravindra Jadeja had a lone scalp to his name.
Post tea, England lost five wickets for 25 runs in 21 overs. Jonny Bairstow was dismissed on the first ball of the final session of the day, pushing at a Jadeja delivery which turned and spooned to short cover. Kuldeep came in to have Tom Hartley caught at mid-on and trapped Ollie Robinson LBW with one that turned in to hit the pad past the willow.
Robinson tried to change the decision but couldn’t do so as umpire’s call came on the ball hitting leg-stump. Ben Foakes survived an under-edge off Ashwin, but the off-spinner slipped in a carrom ball, which the batter couldn’t read and gave a return catch to the bowler.
Ashwin completed his five-fer when James Anderson went for the reverse sweep and missed it. The ball ricocheted off the bat and Dhruv Jurel stuck out his right glove to take a sharp catch.
Earlier, with a first innings lead of 46, Ben Duckett began by smashing a four each off Ashwin and Jadeja. But Ashwin removed him and Ollie Pope on consecutive balls in the fifth over to rattle England’s second innings early on.
While Duckett was caught at forward short leg, Pope was trapped lbw when the ball straightened and hit his back pad right in front of leg-stump. It gave Ashwin scalps number 350 and 351, thus surpassing Anil Kumble to become India’s leading Test wicket-taker on home soil.
Crawley launched a counterattack by using his reach to good effect and getting to the pitch of the ball to drive on both sides of the wicket with ease. But Ashwin got his third wicket in the 17th over when he found a turn to beat Joe Root’s inside edge and trap him LBW for 11.
Crawley marched forward to bring up his 13th fifty in Tests and third of the ongoing series, coming off 72 balls. But Kuldeep removed him for 61 off 90 balls after beating the batter for a turn and rattling the middle stump.
Ben Stokes survived an lbw call on the umpire’s call off Jadeja but was castled by a Kuldeep delivery which kept low and turned to hit the back pad and rolled onto the stumps. Post tea, the procession continued for England to be 145 all out, giving India a chance to win the series at Ranchi.
Brief scores:
England 353 & 145 all out in 53.5 overs (Zak Crawley 60, Jonny Bairstow 30; Ravichandran Ashwin 5-51, Kuldeep Yadav 4-22) lead India 307 all out in 103.2 overs (Dhruv Jurel 90, Yashasvi Jaiswal 73; Shoaib Bashir 5-119, Tom Hartley 3-68) by 192 runs
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